Nearly 400 Military Bases Must Be Tested for Water Contamination.
But with so many sites to evaluate, the cleanup "is not super-simple to do," said Mark Correll, an Air Force official.
Research on other potential health effects is ongoing, and some experts contend that even water below the EPA’s health advisory level is unsafe.
Contamination has been found near 27 military bases in 16 states, according to the Air Force, Navy, and Army.
The military has also addressed contamination in on-base drinking systems on 15 installations.
In Newburgh, N.Y., where drinking water was tainted by the foam used at an Air National Guard base, officials are pressing the military to pay for connecting city residents to a new clean water source.
The Air Force, Navy, and Army say they have similar plans: First, they will sample bases where the foam, known as aqueous film-forming foam, may have been used, then assess whether remediation is needed.
Officials then started paying more attention to the chemicals as the EPA began focusing on them, said Correll, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for the environment, safety, and infrastructure.
Navy officials established a policy for the testing and cleanup last June, a month after the EPA released new guidelines, and have completed sampling at 11 of 127 bases.
The Army will follow the same process as the Navy and Air Force, a spokesman said, but inspections at 61 bases have not yet begun.